Attachment fob lighting lanterns



A.-C. RICHARD. La'ntern Attachment.

No. 19,044. Patented Jan. 5, 1858.

Illll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT C. RICHARD, OF NEWTOVN, CONNECTICUT.

ATTACHMENT FOR LIGHTING LANTERNS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 19,044, dated January 5, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT C. RICHARD, of Newtown, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful attachment to be applied to lanterns, whereby their lamps or candles are rendered self-lighting or may be lighted automatically by simply actuating a trigger or catch; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a vertical section of a lantern with my improvement applied to it. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of a lantern with my improvement applied to it.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the two figures.

My invention consists in having a match socket attached to a spring which is secured to the inner side of the door, and retained or held back to the side of the door by a catch.

A corrugated plate is attached to the inner side of the lantern, and the several parts are so arranged that the match which is fitted in the socket will, when the socket is liberated from the catch, have its ignitable end forced over the corrugated plate, the match being thrown in line with the wick, in an ignited state and thereby lighting the lamp.

To enable those skilled in the art to fully understand and construct my invention, I will proceed to describe it.

A represents a lantern of rectangular form and having a door B at one side, the door being hinged to the lantern at (a) see Fi 2.

ti represents the lamp within the lantern, and D represent-s a handle attached to the outer side of the door B. The above parts are of usual construction and therefore do not require a minute description.

To the inner side of the door B a spiral spring E is attached. The lower end of this spring is bent outward so as to form a radial arm (6) and a socket (0) is attached to this arm (6), said socket being merely a section of a short tube bisected longitudinally, the socket being of sufficient capacity to hold a friction match. The arm (6) passes through a loop (d) which is attached to the inner side of the door B and determines or controls the throw or outward movement of the arm (7)) and socket (c).

F represents a rod one portion of which passes vertically through the upper part of the handle D, said rod having a thumb plate (6) on its upper end and a spiral spring (f) around it between the plate (6) and the upper surface of the handle, as shown clearly in Fig. 1. The lower end of the rod F is bent at right angles with its upper part and passes through the door B, the inner end of the horizontal part being bent to form a ledge as shown at (g) Fig. 1. To the lower end of the vertical portion of the rod F a link (h) is pivoted, and to the lower end of this link a lever (2') is pivoted, said lever (2') passing through the door B, and working on a fulcrum pin (a the lever having its end curved upward as shown clearly in Fig. 1. To the inner side of the lantern and at the corner opposite that where the door B is hinged a corrugated plate (j) is attached.

The operation is as follows: A match (76) is placed within the socket (c) the ignitable end being placed in contact with the inner end of the plate (j) as shown in black Fig. 2. The arm (6) and socket (c) is retained or held near the side of the door B by the ledge (g) the arm (6) being placed behind the ledge which is held upward by the spring When the door B is closed and the match (76) fitted within the socket as shown and the ledge (g) pressed below the arm (Z?) which is done by depressing the rod F with the thumb, the spring E will throw outward the match (is) and the ignitable end will be forced over the surface of the corrugated plate and the match will be ignited thereby and will be retained directly in line with the wick (Z) of the lamp which will consequently be lighted. The curved rod when the rod F is depressed, is forced upward and serves as a stop to the socket as it reaches the end of its throw.

This invention is extremely simple and will be found extremely useful in many cases. A persogmay always have a lantern ready for use at any moment. In case of an alarm at night many persons especially females, in consequence of being excited connot light a lamp quickly and matches are not always at commandmany causes serve to prevent the lamps of lanterns being lighted Q be lighted outdoors as Well as in-doors. If a gated plate jthe Whole arranged and opermatch be placed in the socket it is ready for ated in the manner and for the purpose set 10 use at any time by merely depressing the forth. rod F. r

What I Claim 8m. ALBERT G. RICHARD. The spring E, provided with the socket WVitnesses: a, and the rod F provided with the catch g, WM. H. H01, in combination with the rod 2', and corru- L. L. CLARK. 

